Contribution to Book
Changing Pathways of Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Any Place for Afrocentric Ideas?
Whiteness, Power, and Resisting Change in US Higher Education: A Peculiar Institution
(2021)
Abstract
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are not only distinctive in America’s higher education landscape, but their special role in providing educational opportunities for many African Americans who historically have been marginalized cannot be overstated. While many have continued to applaud HBCUs for their extraordinary contributions to the upward mobility of Black communities, these institutions continue to face many challenges and changing trends since their establishment. These challenges and changing dynamics include funding problems, student recruitment/retention issues, faculty composition, and the debates on the influence of Eurocentric ideas on these institutions. To enhance our understanding of these issues, this chapter examines the changing pathways of HBCUs and asks whether Afrocentric or African-centered ideas are intentionally integrated or omitted in these institutions. Drawing on the Afrocentric theory with relevant works from the existing literature, the chapter argues that HBCUs will be better served if they take further steps to fully embrace African-centered ideas in their curricula and general institutional affairs.
Keywords
- HBCUs,
- America’s higher education,
- Afrocentric theory,
- Black communities
Disciplines
Publication Date
Winter 2021
Editor
Kenneth Roth and Zachary S. Ritter
Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan
Citation Information
Felix Kumah-Abiwu. "Changing Pathways of Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Any Place for Afrocentric Ideas?" Cham, SwitzerlandWhiteness, Power, and Resisting Change in US Higher Education: A Peculiar Institution (2021) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/felix_kumah-abiwu/36/